


Ambush

by GingerBreton



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 23:05:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17590100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerBreton/pseuds/GingerBreton
Summary: One shot based on tumblr fluff prompt: “Your hair keeps falling into your eyes, do you know that? Here, lemme just—”Alistair is knocked out during a darkspawn ambush and needs some patching up, not as much as Leliana though.





	Ambush

He was out cold, blood slowly running down his forehead from where the pommel had connected with his skull. His face strangely serene, lips slightly parted, Izzy could feel the gentle rush of breath against her cheek as she bent over him, desperately looking for signs of life. 

“He's breathing!”

_The ambush had taken them all by surprise. They'd never expected to find darkspawn this far north, let alone travelling with an ogre in broad daylight. If she’d had any idea, they wouldn’t have ventured out with such a small party. It was never meant to be anything other than a supply run._

She could see Wynne visibly relax at her shout, her form bent over Leliana as she helped her into a more comfortable possible. A particularly brutal compound fracture jutting from her arm where a hurled boulder had struck her. She was sheet white and keeping her gaze averted from the grizzly sight as Wynne set to work on her. 

_The multi-hued woodlands of the Hinterlands were cold and crisp that autumn day. As the party had set up camp for the evening, Wynne had set out to resupply on herbs as potion supplies were dwindling, Izzy offering to accompany her into the woods to be on the safe side, with Leliana taking the opportunity to join them in the name of hunting something for supper._

_The final member of their party was Alistair, who had trotted after them, proclaiming that he needed the fresh air, a statement that met with a few quizzical looks, as it had been a good week since any one of them had had a solid roof over their heads. More likely it was to keep an eye on her. Ever since she was reunited with them, she couldn’t think of a time when one of her fellow wardens hadn’t been by her side, though she was sure both would deny it vehemently._

The occasional soft whimper from Leliana drifted across the clearing as Wynne began to clean the wound, but the young woman gritted her teeth and let the mage go about her work without complaint. In the short time they had travelled with Wynne, they had learnt that, unlike Morrigan, she was extremely diligent when it came to proper healing practices, and unless they were in the heat of battle, she always insisted on wound cleaning to prevent infection before even thinking about beginning her spells. 

Alistair was still the picture of serenity, sprawled upon the ground. The bleeding had slowed, but he was probably going to have at least one lump on his head and a black eye to boot. Her heart rate was finally starting to settle from the panic that had overtaken her. _Daft boy. He shouldn't have done it._ Izzy’s finger traced his hairline where another cut slowly oozed. His eyelids flickered. 

_Between Alistair’s idle chatter and the swish of Wynne’s robes through the fallen leaves, they seemed to be alerting any local wildlife to their approach, much to the frustration of Leliana, who decided to forge on ahead._

_She had been gone long enough that the sun was beginning to lower when a familiar sickening creeping sensation ran its way down Ysabelle’s spine. Her eyes instantly found Alistair’s. From his suddenly knotted brow he had sensed them too. They had taken off running north before they'd even heard the first cry._

Leliana’s sharp intake of breath drew Izzy’s attention away from her own patient. Wynne was obviously starting the slow process of healing the brutal wound. 

“How is he?” the older woman called across the clearing, not taking her eyes off her work. 

“He’ll look a mess tomorrow, but he’ll live.” 

A groan came from the floor by her leg, causing Izzy to sit back in surprise, “‘s a little harsh... don't you think?” Alistair’s voice was barely audible, like the mutter of one rousing from a deep sleep, or possibly deep in drink. “You wound me, dear lady.” 

“I think you'll find that was the boulder.” She could feel the tension melt from her shoulders at the sound of his voice, but it took a moment for the intended humour in her retort to find her face, the unintended ring of truth in his words unsettling her. 

A look of consternation knotted his brow, bringing with it a wave of pain from the deep laceration that had made its home across his forehead, burying itself in his eyebrow. From the look on his face and the watering of his eyes, grimacing only made the pain worse. He was a bloody mess. It was strange how she felt more guilty now he was awake than when he was knocked out, her heart contracting a little with every grimace that crossed his face. 

“Wynne’ll look at you soon, pet. Just as soon as she's fixed Leliana’s arm.” Instead of offering the reassurance she had hoped for, her words had alerted him to their friend’s condition.

“‘s she ok?” Alistair pushed her aside, attempting to sit up quickly to get a look at his injured comrade. 

The sudden movement did him no favours. He swayed, all of the colour draining from his face, and Izzy only just managed to catch him before he fell back. With him still fully armoured, it took every ounce of strength she could muster to lay him back down without dropping him. Wynne would not thank her for inducing another head injury. 

“Lel will be fine. Never even passed out! Now, will you stay still?” She wrestled her arm free from under him, her face close enough to his to have picked up a smear of blood down her own cheek. She was certainly too close for his semi-conscious eyes to focus on the exasperated stare she was giving him. “Look, I'm going to get a cloth to clean you up a bit. Stay put.”

Her irritation was unfair, but it was easier to be annoyed at him for the little things than admit how scared she’d been when she saw him land like a ragdoll, unmoving. She didn’t realise how much her legs were shaking until she got back up to see Wynne. 

_It had been her fault. Not the boulder exactly, but him being knocked out by it. She had been distracted keeping the darkspawn attention away from the fallen Leliana. She hadn’t seen the ogre lift another boulder, she definitely hadn’t seen it aim for her, but Alistair had. The first thing she’d known about it was the sight of his shield coming across her, looking back and seeing he wasn’t covering himself and in that instant they were hit by a wall of rock._

He was sat up now, arms wrapped around his knees. Tucked in next to him, Ysabelle sat diligently cleaning his wounds to Wynne’s strict specifications. She could feel his half-focused gaze following her as she tilted his head this way and that, to get to the various abrasions that scattered his face. Each time she moved his head, it would inevitably swing back to where he could get a better look at what she was doing. 

She caught him by the chin, a rare uninjured spot, and turned him to face her for the briefest moment, her expression caught somewhere between exasperation and amusement. 

“Behave.” 

“I just wanted to see what you were doing.” He made his best attempt at puppy-dog eyes, no mean feat when it hurt to move most of the muscles in his face. His eyes still trained on her as she tipped his head down to better see his bloodied hairline. 

“You can't see because I'm doing it to your face, you wazzock!” This time she couldn't keep the smile from her face, shaking her head at his look of pride for finally winning a smile. 

_It had been a close run thing with only her and Wynne left standing in the end. If it hadn't have been for Wynne’s shaking the ground beneath the feet of the final ogre, causing it to drop like a stone, Izzy would never have managed launch the poisoned blade which ended the beast, leaving nothing but silence and carnage around them._

The wind was picking up, sending leaving skittering across the clearing, and whipping Izzy's hair in the breeze. She absentmindedly blew loose locks from her face, as she continued her task. Out of the corner of her eye she could make out his warm amber eyes still watching her, though he'd finally resigned himself to doing as he was told, a distracted smile settled on his lips. 

“Your hair keeps falling into your eyes, do you know that?” His voice still held the drowsy, sing-song edge of concussion. “Here, lemme just…” 

She didn't realise it was happening until she felt his knuckles brush her cheek as he tucked the loose hair behind her ear. She never meant to allow her eyes to drift shut at the warmth of his touch. A reaction she’d not expected of herself. How long had her eyes been closed? Too long. 

Izzy’s eyes snapped open, jerking back a little way, suddenly embarrassed at how close they were. Alistair seemed happily unaware of the butterflies he’d loosed in her stomach, or her sudden desire to distance herself from him. He just continued to smile pleasantly, watching her face in a way that made her mouth go dry. This wasn’t like him, she’d never seen him look at her like this. This must be the head injury. 

“Look how red your cheeks are. Are you warm?” He leant forward, as if trying get a better look at her, causing her to rock back further, her cheeks burning. “I think you have all the blood I lost!” 

He chuckled to himself, fixing her frozen look with a lopsided grin and a quirked eyebrow. Still she couldn’t move. _Because obviously his vision is movement based, Izzy,_ mocked the voice in her head that so often liked to remind her when she was being a fool, _if you stay still long enough maybe he’ll give up and go away._

It was a casual boop to her nose from an Alistair, who’d clearly got bored of waiting for her to snap back to reality, that pulled her out of her introspection. The relief at the release of tension sending her flopping back on to the ground with an unnecessarily loud bark of laughter. 

“You're ridiculous, you know that?”

“Madam, I pride myself on it!” Judging by the look on his face, he truly did. 

“Well, you seem better already.” Wynne stood a few feet away, arms loosely folded across her chest as she watched them, leaving Ysabelle wondering how long she’d been stood there viewing their embarrassing exchange. “We’ll have you patched up in no time, Alistair.”

With a nod to Wynne, Izzy got up to go and help carry Leliana’s things. 

“Watch him, he wriggles!” She shot back over her shoulder with a swift grin. “And Ali, don’t ever scare me like that again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> If you enjoyed this, this one shot is set within the universe of my long fic (the time for vigilance is over) and there are plenty of other one shots of these two idiots for you to have a look at. I swear I will organise them by au soon. 
> 
> Thanks again!


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